Ley de Prensa Canadá: Base Legal

International treaties are given binding effect in Canada where incorporated by reference into a domestic statute by the federal or a provincial government. Where a treaty has been signed or ratified but not incorporated into a domestic statute, the treaty will not be treated as binding but may nonetheless be treated as persuasive. In the Supreme Court of Canada's 1999 decision in Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), the Court found that a decision of an immigration officer to deny a woman an exemption from deportation on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was unreasonable. The woman in question had Canadian born children who were not subject to deportation. One of the grounds cited by the Court for its finding was the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Can. T.S. 1992 No. 3, which specifically mandated signatory countries to avoid separating parents and children.

Canada also is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 19 December 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, Can. T.S. 1976 No. 47, 6 I.L.M. 368 [hereinafter ICCPR or the "Covenant"]. In ratifying the Optional Protocol, Canada accepted the jurisdiction of the United Nations Committee on Human Rights [hereinafter the "Committee" or "Human Rights Committee"] to examine individual communications alleging breaches by Canada of rights guaranteed under the Covenant. In Ahani v. Canada(Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), from 2002, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the Canadian Government was not compelled to wait for the outcome of a Human Rights Committee decision before deporting a suspected terrorist to his country of origin notwithstanding his claim that he would be tortured upon his return.

c .Estructura judicial especial de prensa

There are no special tribunals for trying criminal libel offenses or other matters relating to the media.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (see http://www.crtc.gc.ca/) functions as a regulator and specialized tribunal adjudicating matters under the Broadcasting Act (http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/BROWSETITLE?letter=B&subject=)

Every province has a self-governing body to allow for complaints by the public against the media. Also, these organizations, as well as voluntary self-governing organizations specific to different forms of media (newspaper, magazine, broadcasting) provide ethical guidelines for the members.

For example, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an organization that originated in the private sector with the participation of both private and public sector representatives (see http://www.cbsc.ca/). The CBSC is in charge of administering four codes of ethics pertaining to the broadcast and news sectors. The idea of creating such an organization was to have some industry‑generated guidelines which regulate ethical matters in the industry. The CBSC has no way of enforcing disciplinary measures taken against its members unless it is self‑imposed. Te CBSC, however, has some official support from the body regulating radio and television which is the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission). This latter regulating body may enforce strict measures concerning certain ethical violations committed broadcasting such as the use of vulgar language, etc.

The Broadcasting Act sets technical guidelines for the broadcasting sector. There are provisions which relate to the ban of information such as hate propaganda or publishing false or misleading news (S. 5).

Telecommunications Act

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/BROWSETITLE?letter=T&subject=

Under S. 16 (1) of the Telecommunications Act, only Canadian carriers are eligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier if it is a Canadian‑owned and controlled corporation incorporated or continued under the laws of Canada or any province. Pursuant to subsection (2), however, a Canadian carrier other than a corporation described in subsection (1) is eligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier if it is incorporated or continued under the laws of Canada or a province and certain conditions are met in subsection (2) (a),(b),(c),and (d).

Section 36 of the Telecommunications Act mandates, for example, that except where the Commission approves, a Canadian carrier shall not "control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of telecommunications carried by it."